Today, many financial institutions offer customers physical space by which they can secure valuables, for example, jewelry and important documents such as life insurance policies, deeds, wills, titles, etc. These physical spaces are referred to as safety deposit boxes, or sometimes safe deposit boxes. In general, the boxes are technically a safe and are usually located within the bank's main vault, which adds to the security of the box.
Essentially, many customers pay a fee to use safety deposit boxes to prevent loss due to fire, theft, unintentional misplacement, or other undesired situation. Of course, safeguards are put into place to ensure the safety and security of the contents of the safety deposit box. For example, a specific key (or sometimes code) can be assigned to the renter of a box. In order to access the contents of the box, once a customer proves identity and provides a valid signature, oftentimes, the financial institution's master key must be used in addition to the customer's assigned key to gain entry into the box.
As the digital age advances, many banks are incorporating physical biometrics into security of contents of safety deposit boxes. For example, physical biometric authentication technologies can be used to measure and analyze human physical characteristics to validate identity for authentication purposes. Examples of these characteristics include fingerprints, retinas, facial features, hands whereby, the systems can be used to permit entry based upon scanning of these unique physical features and/or characteristics.